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The Band Wagon
The Band Wagon is a 1953 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. It tells the story of an aging musical star who hopes a Broadway show will restart his career. However, the play's director wants to make it a pretentious retelling of the Faust legend and brings in a prima ballerina who clashes with the star. Along with Singin' in the Rain (1952), it is regarded as one of the finest Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals, although it was a modest box-office success on first release.
Plot
Tony Hunter, once a famous star of musical comedies on stage and later on screen, is largely forgotten after three years without appearing in a film. He returns from Hollywood to New York. At Grand Central Station, he is recognized but almost ignored by reporters who are there by chance as Ava Gardner is on the same train. However, he is greeted enthusiastically by his good friends Lester and Lily Marton, and they tell him they have written a stage show, a light musical comedy, that will be a perfect comeback for Tony. They will also act in it, and they already have caught the interest of Jeffrey Cordova, who they say can do anything: Currently he is starring in, as well as directing, a new adaptation of Oedipus Rex that he wrote based on the original Greek story.
Cast
- Al Ferguson
- Ava Gardner
- Bess Flowers
- Colin Kenny
- Cyd Charisse
- Don Beddoe
- Douglas Fowley
- Emory Parnell
- Fred Aldrich
- Fred Astaire
- Harold Miller
- Jack Buchanan
- James Mitchell
- John Lupton
- Julie Newmar
- Lotte Stein
- Nanette Fabray
- Oscar Levant
- Richard Alexander
- Robert Burton
- Robert Gist
- Roy Engel
- Steve Forrest
- Stuart Holmes
- Thurston Hall